Goal reached: More than 7 million sign up for insurance through exchanges

The number of Americans getting health insurance through the new federal and state exchanges topped 7 million on the last frenzied day of the formal sign-up period, White House Chief Technology Officer Todd Park told technology workers who had been brought in to fix glitches in HealthCare.gov late Monday night.

“I am proud to tell y'all that y'all carried the ball over the impossible line,” Park said in an audiotape obtained of his pronouncement by the American Urban Radio Network. “Y'all exceeded the goal.”

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney later confirmed the reports.

“As of midnight last night enrollments surpassed 7 million, and that was not counting states across the country that had their own marketplaces, so once those numbers come in we'll have a more accurate total for the figure hit at the end of the open enrollment period,” Carney said in a midday press briefing.

Park was reportedly speaking in the parking lot of vendor QSSI, a Maryland tech firm that worked on repairing problems with HealthCare.gov, with firm employees who had come outside their offices to celebrate with champagne.

The president plans to address enrollment in the plans, a core feature of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, during a 4:15 p.m. ET news briefing Tuesday in the White House Rose Garden.

HealthCare.gov saw 8.7 million visits in the seven days ending Sunday, with 2 million visitors during the weekend, the CMS said. Extreme volume led to site problems throughout the day Monday, although officials denied at least one reported outage.

Follow John N. Frank on Twitter: @MHJFrank